Welcome to Surface Measurement Systems

Surface Measurement Systems develops and engineers innovative experimental techniques and instrumentation for physico-chemical characterization of complex solids. We are the world leaders in Dynamic Vapor Sorption (DVS) technology and Inverse Gas Chromatography instrumentation and solutions, providing professional world-class scientific and technical support for our international customers.

Water Activity(Aw) Measurements Using a Payne Cell with a Flux-Calibrated Membrane and DVS

The measurement of water activity (Aw) is a very important metric in the food industry. It is used by food manufacturers and government agencies to evaluate the quality of food ingredients and to predict a product’s potential shelf life. The most widely used method to determine Aw is the measurement of water vapour pressure emanating from a food material enclosed in a sealed chamber. This application note demonstrates a possible alternative to the traditional method employed by industry and describes advantages that may be gained by this new procedure.

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Application Note 303

An overview of iGC SEA – a new instrument for characterising the physico-chemical properties of polymers

The surface properties of powders and fibres are important parameters in the handling and performance of a wide range of solid materials. iGC SEA has been specifically designed to address many of the issues faced by physical properties researchers, including fully automated operation and the ability to measure samples in a controlled humidity environment. This Application note gives a brief description of the technique, the instrument and some examples of its application to a range of polymeric materials analysis problems.

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Application Note 301

An overview of iGC SEA – A new Instrumental Technique for Characterising the Phyisco-chemical Properties of Pharmaceutical Materials

This application note gives a brief description of the technique, the instrument and some examples of its
application within pharmaceutical physico-chemical analysis.

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Subscribe to our Sorption Science Bulletin

To explore the latest news and research in sorption science, subscribe to Surface Measurement Systems’ Sorption Science Bulletin. We regularly review the literature and collate it for your reference.

In the present paper dispersive surface energies and specific free energies have been calculated for different modified E-glass fibre surfaces. Both different sizing and different polymer coatings have been investigated to consider changes in the surface chemistry and surface energy during different fibre treatments.

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Finite concentration IGC SEA is a useful tool for the investigation of surface and pore properties. A novel combination of finite concentration IGC SEA and thermal desorption provides the possibility to separate micropore adsorption from surface and mesopore adsorption. This allows the calculation of BET values with physical relevance for highly microporous materials and the consideration of molecular sieve effects.

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Application Note 204

Determination of the glass transition temperatures Tg of maltose and its dependence on relative humidity by infinite dilution inverse gas chromatography

The glass transition temperature Tg is an important property for the characterisation of polymeric, food, pharmaceutical and many natural products. iGC SEA can provide a fast and accurate determination of this property as well as its dependence on relative humidity. This paper describes the characterisation of maltose with decane at infinite dilution.

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Application Note 202

Determination of the dispersive surface energy of Paracetamol by pulse inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution

The surface energy is a useful parameter describing the energetic properties of the surface of a solid sample. It can be determined in a fast and accurate way by IGC SEA. This paper describes the measurement of the dispersive component of the surface energy of Paracetamol.

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Vapour Sorption Properties of Building Materials using Gravimetric Sorption Instrumentation – an Overview

Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) has long been used for investigating the interaction of water and organic vapours with solid materials. The versatility and impact of DVS has particular importance in the study of building materials. This overview application note summarises several examples of using DVS to study cements, wood, insulation, and other building materials.

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Application Note 57

Characterisation of Wheat Straw for Bio-fuel Application

Biomass, such as wheat straw is an abundant and inexpensive natural biopolymer rich in cellulose and hemicellulose [1] which can be converted into bio-fuel. The bio-fuel has been attracting attention due to the future potential shortages of fossil fuel [2,3]. One of the crucial steps of producing bio-ethanol from wheat straw is its pre-treatment which should facilitate the economic feasibility and yield efficient conversion into biofuel. This pre-treatment is expected to increase the accessible chemical sites of the straw to increase convertibility in subsequent hydrolysis and fermentation steps. Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) [4] and UV were used to assess the wheat straw pre-treatment and sugar yield, respectively.

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Raman spectroscopy is a widely used physical characterization technique used in the pharmaceutical industry. The combination of Raman spectroscopy and Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) allows for a more complete understanding of vapour-solid interactions for pharmaceutical materials as it relates to structural properties. This paper overviews the DVS-Raman capabilities and gives several examples.

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DVS is now established as a useful analytical tool in many R&D laboratories throughout the world. This application note describes the integration of DVS with a colour video microscope for the in-situ visualisation of moisture induced morphological transformations, which may be correlated with the gravimetric data.

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Application Note 01

Validation of Relative Humidity using Saturated Salt Solutions

Validation of humidity generation and measurement in gravimetric vapour sorption instrumentation is an important issue for the pharmaceutical and related industries. This application note sets out a standard DVS method for validation of relative humidity data using saturated salt solutions.

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